In web design
, the use of style sheet languages such as CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and XSL (Extensible Stylesheet Language) are important to properly and effectively control the plenty of elements present in an online site, from text to images. However, before the use of these styling languages, a considerable number of methods were first applied to manipulate a website's content. One recognized method is the use of tables.
Tables in web design
When the Web was first introduced, it was known for its use as a method to share research notes and other important information. But because of its capability to deliver access to a wider market compared to TV promotion or billboards, plenty of business sought its use to promote and market their business in the Web, thus from the academic and research world in to the mainstream.

Because of this expansion, plenty of graphic artists have also sought ways to control the the visual appearance of the Web pages introduced to finish users. According to plenty of Web design Philippines specialists, a considerable number of methods have been introduced, and one of the most promising is the use of tables as well as spacers (which are usually transparent single pixel GIF images with explicitly specified width and height).
Disadvantages of using tables
Though it provided them with a way to control every element present in their sites, allowing them to generate layouts, the use of tables do have its disadvantages, with its accessibility. Plenty of web pages which were designed with tables nested within tables have resulted in huge HTML documents which use more bandwidth than documents with simpler formatting.

This issue became even worst when WYSIWYG editors were introduced, which lead to plenty of tables nested within tables as well as tables with unnecessary rows and columns. According to plenty of specialists, such as those from Web design Philippines companies, this major issue led to the decline of the Web in 2001. It is also in this time that plenty of sought other ways to manipulate the elements of an online site without jeopardizing its accessibility. This is where styling languages were introduced in the market.